On The Radio
All UC Santa Barbara basketball games are broadcast live in Santa Barbara on KTMS, 990-AM. KEYT-TV Sports Director Gerry Fall is in his third year as the play-by-play voice of the Gauchos. Former Los Angeles Lakers' and UCSB star Don Ford handles the color commentary for the majority of games, home and road. When Ford is not available for road games, Bill Mahoney, yours truly, will handle the task. Steve Wendt, the voice of the UCSB women's basketball team, will handle the play-by-play for a handful of men's games this season.

The Bob Williams Show
The Bob Williams show will be aired each Tuesday night from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on KTMS 990-AM in Santa Barbara. Coach Williams will talk about past and upcoming games, interview Gaucho players and welcome guests from the Santa Barbara sports community.

The Gaucho Record
UC Santa Barbara enters Tuesday's game at Pepperdine with a record of 3-0. The Gauchos opened the 2006-07 season on Nov. 10 with a 75-67 home win over San Jose State and then posted road wins at Montana State (88-56) and UNLV (79-76). UCSB posted a 2-0 record in the exhibition season. The Gauchos recorded wins over UC San Diego (62-51) and Westmont College (76-68). UCSB finished the 2005-06 season with an overall record of 15-14 and a Big West mark of 6-8. The Gauchos finished fifth-place in the league. UCSB won eight of its final 11 games in 2005-06 to finish over the .500 mark for the fourth time in five seasons.

UCSB Goes 3-0 For The First Time In A While
The Gauchos are off to a perfect 3-0 start for the first time in a while. The last time a UCSB team opened the season with a 3-0 record was in 1994-95. With Jerry Pimm as the head coach, Santa Barbara recorded home wins over Wagner College (in overtime) and Delaware, and a road win at Pepperdine. The 3-0 start is also the first in nine seasons under head coach Bob Williams. The last time UCSB opened the season with a 4-0 record was in 1992-93. Finally, the Gauchos have opened the year with a 2-0 record on the road. The last time they went 2-0 in true road games was in 2003-04 when they won at Hawaii and UCLA. However, sandwiched between the two true road wins were a pair of neutral court losses at a tournament in Montana. The last time UCSB opened the season at 2-0 in games away from home, whether road or neutral, was in 1992-93 when it opened the year with a 4-0 record in road games.

Gauchos Parlay Fast Start, Key Free Throws, Into 79-76 Win At UNLV
Junior forward Chris Devine tied his career-high with 25 points, junior guard Alex Harris added 20 and freshman guard James Powell added 17, including five consecutive free throws in the final 35 seconds, to lead UCSB to a 79-76 win at UNLV on Friday. The Gauchos, who trailed just once in the game at 8-7, jumped out to a 40-36 halftime edge. Over the first 14:12 of the second half, they extended the lead to 14, 72-58. UNLV, however, used a 14-1 run over the next three minutes to pull to within one, 73-72 with 1:22 left. From there, it was all about free throws for the Gauchos. UCSB made six of eight down the stretch, including Powell's five straight in the final 35 seconds, to pull out the win. Powell's final two free throws came with seven seconds remaining and when Rebel guard Curtis Terry missed a three-pointer as time expired the game was over. The Gauchos made 56.3% of their shots in the game and they limited UNLV to 43.8%. In addition, Santa Barbara made 44.4% of its three-point attempts and held the Rebels to just 34.8% from beyond the three-point arc. The win at Las Vegas was the program's first since Jan. 7, 1988, and just the second ever.

Probable Starters - Notes
G - James Powell - Had career-high 17, including five key free throws, in win at UNLV.
G - Alex Harris - First Gaucho to score 20 or more in three straight since 2002-03.
G - Justin Joyner - Seven assists at UNLV were most by a Gaucho since December of 2004.
F - Chris Devine - Tied career-high with 25 at UNLV. His highest total in non-overtime game.
F - Tom Garlepp - Tied career-high with two blocked shots in win at UNLV.

Probable Reserves - Notes
G - Paul Roemer - Walk-on freshman has made one basket in each of the three wins.
G - Trevor Bing - Has attempted only three-pointers through three games, going 4-of-5, 80.0%.
G - Ivan Elliott - Has played a high of 17 minutes in each of the last two games.
F - Emmanuel Bidias a Mouté - Scored personal best six points in just 11 minutes at UNLV.
F - Beau Gibb - Is the only active Gaucho who has yet to make a field goal.
F - David Massey - Scored his first points and had his first rebound at Montana State.
F - Sam Phippen - Freshman forward will redshirt the 2006-07 season.

The Infirmary - Notes
G - Cecil Brown - Stress fracture in right foot has him sidelined until late-November.
F - Glenn Turner - Repaired hernia has him out indefinitely.

The Bob Williams FileBob Williams is in his ninth season as the head coach at UC Santa Barbara. Last year his team overcame a slow start to finish over the .500 mark for the fourth time in five seasons. UCSB was 15-14 overall and 6-8 in the Big West. Prior to the 2004-05 season, when an injury-ravaged Gaucho team finished below .500, Williams had guided the program to three straight winning seasons for the first time since the late 1980s. In 2002-03, Williams' Gauchos went 18-14 overall and 14-4 in league. The 2002-03 Big West mark earned Santa Barbara its first-ever Big West regular season championship along with a trip to the postseason National Invitation Tournament. Additionally, the success earned Williams his second Big West Coach of the Year award, his first coming after an impressive 1999 campaign. In 2001-02, Williams guided UCSB to its first Big West Conference Tournament Championship ever and first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years. Including this season, Williams' UCSB teams have posted a 125-111 (.530) overall record and a 79-55 (.590) record in Big West games. Prior to his arrival at UCSB, he spent eight years at UC Davis and in those eight years, his teams recorded 20 or more wins five times and a 158-76 record. In Williams' final season, the Aggies went 31-2, won the NCAA Division II National Championship and he was named NABC Division II Coach of the Year. Including two seasons at Menlo College, Williams has a record of 314-211 (.598) at four-year schools.

The Opponents
UCSB and Pepperdine have played 66 times in a series that dates back to 1940. The Waves hold a 35-31 edge all-time. The Gauchos won last season's match-up at the Thunderdome, 65-56. Guard Cecil Brown scored a career-high 28 points in that game. UCSB has not won in Malibu since it recorded a 70-63 win on Dec. 6, 1994. The Gauchos and San Diego State have played 78 times over the years. The Aztecs hold a 42-36 advantage in the series that dates back to 1937. The teams met last season on Dec. 17, 2005, at Cox Arena in San Diego, and SDSU recorded a 66-54 win. In 2004-05, the teams split a pair of games with each team winning on the other's home court.

The Gauchos On The Road
UCSB is 2-0 in road games this season. The Gauchos opened the road portion of their schedule with an 88-56 win at Montana State on Nov. 13 and then on Nov. 17, they won at UNLV, 79-76. This marks the first 2-0 true road record since the 2003-04 season and the first 2-0 start in games away from home since the 1992-93 campaign when they opened four straight road wins. UCSB posted a 5-9 record in true road games in 2005-06 and a 6-10 mark in all non-home games. While the 5-9 doesn't seem like much, it includes an 0-7 start and a 5-2 finish. The Gauchos opened the 2005-06 season with seven straight road losses, extending a two-season streak to nine straight road defeats. Last season, UCSB posted road victories at San Jose State, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge and UC Davis.

The Gauchos At Home
UCSB is 1-0 at home in 2006-07. The Gauchos defeated San Jose State on Nov. 10. UCSB went 9-4 in home games during the 2005-06 season and it was a perfect 6-0 in non-conference home games last season. Since Bob Williams became head coach in 1998-99, Santa Barbara has gone 74-30 in home games overall and 30-11 in non-conference home games. Since the 2000-01 season, UCSB has gone 22-5 in non-conference games at the Thunderdome. The Gauchos went 8-4 in home games in 2004-05, but in each of the three years before that, they finished 10-2 in home games.

Brown, Turner Not Expected Back For Pepperdine
Senior guard Cecil Brown and senior forward Glenn Turner have each missed the two exhibition games and all three regular season games. Brown suffered a stress fracture in his right foot before the start of practice on Oct. 13, and while he has started doing some running, he is not expected to return until after this week's games. Turner had a procedure to repair a hernia on Thursday, Nov. 9, and is not expected back for another few weeks. Both Brown and Turner were penciled in as starters before the injuries.

Gauchos Enter 2006-07 With Extreme Makeover
UCSB has opened the 2006-07 season with a vastly different roster than it finished the 2005-06 season. Gone are eight of the 13 players from last season's team. In their place are two redshirt freshmen, a transfer from a four-year school, two junior college transfers and four true freshmen. In fact, due to injuries, the Gauchos has had only three returnees play in the season's first three games. On the season, 332 of the 600 minutes logged by UCSB players thus far have been logged by newcomers, 55.3%.

Newcomers Make Themselves Heard
As mentioned in the paragraph above, UCSB's roster has had a pretty major overhaul from last year and the new players have wasted little time in making their marks. In the first game of the season, against San Jose State, new players scored 28 of the team's 75 points, 37.3%. In the win at Montana State, the figure was even more extreme as newcomers scored 46 of the team's 88 points, 52.3%. After three games, new additions to the team have scored 106 points (43.8%), collected 46 rebounds (46.0%), passed-off for 31 assists (63.2%) and gathered 10 steals (41.7%).

A Game Of Percentages
Since shooting 39.4% in its season-opener against San Jose State, UCSB has caught fire. In two road games, wins over Montana State and UNLV, the Gauchos made 60-of-105 shots overall, 57.1%. In fact, in those two games, the Gauchos made 46-of-70 shots from inside the three-point line, 65.7%. In all, through the first three games, Santa Barbara has made 50.3% of its field goals. On the other side of the coin, Gaucho opponents have made just 39.1% of their shots. In fact, of UCSB's first three opponents just one, UNLV, shot better than 40.0%. The Runnin' Rebels made 28-of-64 shots from the field, 43.8%.

Freebies
Through its first two games in 2006-07, the Gauchos were a near-perfect 29-of-31 from the free throw line, 93.5%. Although they had a drop-off in the season's third game at UNLV, they did make them when they needed them the most. After making its firs six to improve to 35-of-37 (94.6%) on the year UCSB finished the game at 17-of-23, 73.9%. The Gauchos, or James Powell to be specific, did drill their last five in the narrow win.

A Positive Ratio
In 2005-06, UCSB had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. In each of the first three games in 2006-07, however, the Gauchos have been on the plus side. They had 16 assists and 15 turnovers against San Jose State, 15 assists and 13 turnovers at Montana State and 18 assists and 16 turnovers at UNLV. The margin isn't big, but at least it's on the plus side.

A Marginal Win
On Monday night, UCSB blasted Montana State by a score of 88-56. The 32-point margin was the Gauchos' largest margin of victory for a road game since they trounced St. Mary's 79-37 in Moraga on Dec. 19, 1992. The margin was also the largest in any game, home or road, since an 82-50 home win over Long Beach State on Jan. 26, 2002, and it equals the largest margin by a Bob Williams-coached UCSB team. The last time the Gauchos beat any team by more than 32 points was on Dec. 6, 1997, when they topped San Francisco State, 92-50, at the Thunderdome.

Youth Shall Be Served
UCSB's trip to Montana State last week marked the first time since Bob Williams became head coach in 1998 that a Gaucho team had gone on the road without a senior in the traveling party. The same occurred at UNLV and is likely to at Pepperdine. Santa Barbara's only two seniors, guard Cecil Brown and forward Glenn Turner, have yet to play this season. UCSB's 11-man active roster consists of four juniors, two sophomores and five freshmen.

That's The Point, You Score
Through three games, UCSB is averaging 80.7 points per game. Last year, the Gauchos had a devil of a time scoring and finished at 66.6 points per game. The last time Santa Barbara averaged better than 80.7 points per game through three games was in 1988-89 when they were scoring at an identical 80.7 pace. That team was also 3-0.

The Harris Poll
Junior guard Alex Harris was named Big West Player of the Week after
leading the Gauchos with 25 points in a season-opening win over San
Jose State and he has hardly skipped a beat in the last two games.
Harris scored 21 in a win at Montana State and 20 more in the win at
UNLV. His outputs in the season's first three games are the three
highest scoring efforts of his career and he has become the first UCSB
player to score 20 or more in three straight games since the 2002-03
season when Branduinn Fullove did the same. Harris has set a couple
of other career-highs in the early going. He went for five
three-point baskets against San Jose State, one more than his previous
career-best, and he had five steals against Montana State, also one
more than his previous high. Harris has, in fact, already made 10
three-point baskets after making 28 in 29 games last season. He has
been on fire in all aspects of his shooting. He has made 10-of-18 from
three-point range, 55.6%, 21-of-38 overall, 55.3%, and he has hit all
14 of his free throws. Harris made his final 14 free throws in
2005-06 and enters the week with a streak of 28 consecutive made from
the charity stripe. Finally, the 6-foot-6 Alameda, Calif., native
sent out some early indicators that he was ready to emerge in his
third season at UCSB. In two exhibition games, Harris scored 37 and
23 points, an average of 30.0 per game.

The Devine File
Junior forward Chris Devine was solid in UCSB's first two games. In
the Gauchos' third game, at UNLV, he was outstanding. Devine tied his
career-high by scoring 25 points against the Runnin' Rebels. He made
10-of-15 shots overall, including 1-of-4 from three-point range, and
he pulled-down six rebounds. His other 25-point game came in last
year's regular season finale when he went for 25 in an overtime win at
Cal State Northridge. Devine has improved his average on the season
to 17.0 per game and since making 7-of-16 shots from the field in the
season's first game, he has made 16-of-23 field goal attempts, 69.6%,
and 15-of-19 from inside the three-point arc, 78.9%. In addition to
equaling his career-high for points in a game, the Eagle River,
Alaska, native had a career-high five steals on Nov. 10 against San
Jose State. He also leads the Gauchos in rebounding at 6.3 per game
and the eight he collected in the first game was the sixth-highest
total of his career. Also, after attempting just one free throw in
the first two games, Devine took five in the win at UNLV, a more
natural total for a guy who lead the team with 103 attempts in
2005-06. A Second Team All-Big West choice last season, Devine was
selected to the league's preseason all-conference team this year and
through three games he is showing why.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oye, Oye, Oye!
Sophomore forward Tom Garlepp has started the first three regular
season games and in each he has set a new career-high in at least one
statistical category. Garlepp had nine points in the win at Montana
State, a figure that is actually the third-highest of his career, but
he had a team-high five assists, a career-high. In the first game
against San Jose State he scored eight point, his fourth-highest total
ever. Garlepp also had eight rebounds and two steals against the
Spartans, both career-highs. In the last game, a win at UNLV, he had
just two points, but he also had three assists, one steal and a
career-high two blocked shots. In his three outings, the native of
Perth, Australia, has made 33.3% of his field goal attempts, but after
making just 2-of-9 in the first game he has gone 4-of-9, 44.4%. Also,
he ranks second on the team with nine assists. Garlepp also has just
one turnover in 79 minutes of play. Finally, he was one of the team's
best free throw shooters a year ago, making 81.8%, and nothing has
changed. He has hit all six of his attempts this year and, dating
back to the 2005-06 season, he is now 24-of-28 from the free throw
line in his career, 85.7%.

Old Buddy, Old Powell
Freshman guard James Powell grew-up in UCSB's win at at UNLV. Powell
scored a season-high 17 points, had four rebounds, one assist and one
steal. He made 4-of-6 shots overall, 3-of-5 from three-point range
and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. The statistics, however, don't
tell the whole story. Powell made five consecutive free throws in the
final 35 seconds to help the Gauchos hold on for their 79-76 win.
Powell's 17 points were the most scored by a UCSB freshman since
Branduinn Fullove scored 22 in a game at Boise State on March 3, 2001.
In the last two games he has teamed with fellow-freshman Justin
Joyner to give UCSB its first all-freshmen starting backcourt since
the 2000-01 season when Jacoby Atako and Nick Jones were starting.
Powell has now scored in double-figures in two straight games and in
the last two, both road wins, he has averaged 14.5 points, 4.5
rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Over that span he has
also made 9-of-16 shots overall, 56.2%, and 5-of-11 from three-point
range, 45.5%. Overall, Powell ranks third on the teamin scoring at
12.7 points per game and with six three-point baskets, he is within
nine of entering UCSB's all-time freshman top-10.

Justin Time
Freshman Justin Joyner joined the starting lineup for the first time
on Nov. 13 at Montana State and he does't look like he wants to leave
anytime soon. While he has had some struggles with his shot, Joyner
has become one of the team's best defenders and, with little question,
its top playmaker. Through three games, he leads the team with 15
assists, 5.0 per game. In Friday's win at UNLV, he had a career-high
seven assists, more than any UCSB player had in a game last season,
and the most by a freshman since Branduinn Fullove had seven against
Boise State on Jan. 4, 2001. Joyner also had six assists in the
Gauchos' Nov. 10 win over San Jose State and he has a 3-to-1
assist-to-turnover ratio with 15 assists and just five turnovers. He
also had the first two steals of his career in the win over the
Runnin' Rebels and he has had three or more rebounds in all three
games, averaging 3.3 per game from his backcourt position. Joyner is
yet to find his shooting stroke, however. He has made just 5-of-16
shots overall and he has missed all nine of his three-point attempts.
On the bright side, when he drives inside the three-point stripe, he
has gone 5-of-7, 71.4%.

Ivan The Pretty Good
Junior forward Ivan Elliott started the two exhibition games, but when
the regular season opened he was coming off the bench. In the opener
against San Jose State he struggled with just two points and two
rebounds in eight minutes. He attempted just one field goal against
the Spartans. On Nov. 13, Elliott looked more like the player that
the UCSB coaching staff expects to see. He played 17 minutes, made
5-of-6 field goal attempts, 4-of-4 free throws, and scored 14 points
in a win over Montana State. He also had two blocked shots and three
rebounds. On Friday at UNLV, despite scoring just two points in 17
minutes, Elliott contributed on the defensive end, an area in which he
excels.

Bingo
As a sophomore at Cape Fear Community College, guard Trevor Bing set a
school record for three-point baskets in a season. After three games
at UCSB, it's pretty easy to see why. Bing is averaging 4.7 points
per game as a Gaucho and he has made 4-of-5 shots from the field,
80.0%, all from beyond the three-point line. If the season would end
today, Bing would likely rank among the nation's leaders in
three-point field goal percentage and he would easily set a UCSB
record. After playing 13 and 18 minutes in the first two games of the
season, Bing played a season-low three at UNLV, but he did play long
enough to make his only three-point attempt. He also had an assist
and a rebound against the Runnin' Rebels.

Appreciating Bidias a Mouté
Freshman forward Emmanuel Bidias a Mouté has improved his scoring by
two points in each game. He has scored two, four and six. If he can
score eight against Pepperdine then I will be truly appreciative. Get
it? Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Hey, I coach AYSO,
it came to me immediately. Anyway, Bidias a Mouté has gotten steadily
improved through the preseason and regular season. After playing just
five minutes in the season-opener against San Jose State, scoring two
points, he played 10 at Montana State and scored four. In 11 minutes
at UNLV, he had six points. He has made 5-of-8 shots, 62.5%,
including 4-of-6, 66.7%, in the last two games. In fact in the last
two games, he has played 21 minutes, scored 10 points, had five
rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Roaming Charges Paul Roemer, a walk-on freshman who was a teammate of Justin Joyner's
at De La Salle High School, has worked his way into UCSB's regular
rotation. Although he played a season-low four minutes at UNLV,
Roemer made his only field goal attempt and had an assist. In his
first two games, he averaged 13 minutes per game and made a
three-pointer in each. He has also had at least one assist in all
three games and he has a pair of steals. Not bad for a guy who isn't
even in the media guide